BlackBerry Completes Acquisition of Secusmart

Source: BlackBerry - Press Releases - December 19, 2014 

BlackBerry Completes Acquisition of Secusmart 

Deal reinforces Company’s leadership in enterprise mobile security

Waterloo, ON – BlackBerry Limited (NASDAQ: BBRY; TSX: BB), a global leader in mobile communications, today announced that following regulatory approval it completed its acquisition of Secusmart GmbH, a leader in high-security voice and data encryption and anti-eavesdropping solutions for government organizations, enterprises and telecommunications service providers in Germany and around the world. Terms of this transaction were not disclosed.

With this acquisition, BlackBerry strengthened its leadership in secure enterprise mobility with Secusmart’s encryption and anti-eavesdropping capabilities. Secusmart’s technology will bolster BlackBerry’s end-to-end offerings that provide the highest level of security from the device to the management platform.

“The acquisition of Secusmart underscores BlackBerry’s long-standing commitment to being the best in enterprise mobile security. BlackBerry is the only vendor to offer secure and encrypted voice, text and messaging, setting us further apart from others in the industry,” said John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO, BlackBerry. “With the benefit of Secusmart’s talented team at BlackBerry, we look forward to building on our leadership position in mobile security at a time when cybersecurity breaches and data theft pose ever-growing costs and threats to governments, companies and consumers.”

“We’re thrilled with the acquisition as we see significant opportunities to accelerate innovation for high-end secure communications solutions,” said Dr. Hans-Christoph Quelle, Managing Director of Secusmart. “Having successfully partnered since 2009 to provide Secusmart’s voice and data encryption capabilities to BlackBerry’s gold standard security portfolio, we look forward to introducing Secusmart’s solutions to more of BlackBerry’s government and enterprise customers around the world.”

Last year, the SecuSUITE for BlackBerry® 10 solution was selected by Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security for classified communications for the country’s highest public officials.

BlackBerry’s acquisition of Secusmart is the latest demonstration of the company’s commitment to remaining the leading provider in enterprise mobile security. BlackBerry is the only mobile device management (MDM) vendor that has achieved the “Full Operational Capability” level of certification for operation on U.S. Department of Defense Networks. Furthermore, BlackBerry 10 smartphones were the first to be approved by NATO for classified communications up to “Restricted” level.

About BlackBerry

A global leader in mobile communications, BlackBerry® revolutionized the mobile industry when it was introduced in 1999. Today, BlackBerry aims to inspire the success of our millions of customers around the world by continuously pushing the boundaries of mobile experiences. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, BlackBerry operates offices in North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America. The Company trades under the ticker symbols "BB" on the Toronto Stock Exchange and "BBRY" on the NASDAQ. For more information, visit www.BlackBerry.com.

About Secusmart

Secusmart (www.secusmart.com) is the leading expert in the development and implementation of comprehensive anti-eavesdropping solutions for German government agencies and organizations responsible for the provision of emergency services as well as governments and public authorities outside of Germany. With SecuSUITE for BlackBerry 10, Secusmart combines modern smartphone convenience with highly secure mobile communication. Together with Vodafone, the Düsseldorf anti-eavesdropping experts have integrated the highly secure voice encryption from SecuSUITE for BlackBerry 10 into the new Secure Call app, providing a highly secure smartphone for businesses. Landline phones are also protected within the scope of the Federal Security Network, a customer-specific solution including SecuGATE LV, tap-proof desk telephones, and SecuBRIDGE, encrypted telephone conferences.